Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04B—TRANSMISSION
  • H04B1/00—Details of transmission systems, not covered by a single one of groups H04B3/00 - H04B13/00; Details of transmission systems not characterised by the medium used for transmission
  • H04B1/06—Receivers
  • H04B1/10—Means associated with receiver for limiting or suppressing noise or interference
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04B—TRANSMISSION
  • H04B1/00—Details of transmission systems, not covered by a single one of groups H04B3/00 - H04B13/00; Details of transmission systems not characterised by the medium used for transmission
  • H04B1/06—Receivers
  • H04B1/10—Means associated with receiver for limiting or suppressing noise or interference
  • H04B1/12—Neutralising, balancing, or compensation arrangements
  • H04B1/123—Neutralising, balancing, or compensation arrangements using adaptive balancing or compensation means
  • H04B1/126—Neutralising, balancing, or compensation arrangements using adaptive balancing or compensation means having multiple inputs, e.g. auxiliary antenna for receiving interfering signal

Definitions

• Portable computing or electronic devices typically include antennas that are tuned to receive signals having certain frequencies.
• electromagnetic interference (EMI) disturbances emitted from external and/or internal sources can affect electrical circuits due to electromagnetic radiation. Such disturbances may interrupt, obstruct, or otherwise degrade or limit effective circuit performance.
• circuits in electronic devices such as global positioning system (GPS) receivers, phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), small computers, e-mail devices, audio players, video players, etc., should be protected from potentially harmful EMI.
• GPS global positioning system
• PDAs personal digital assistants
• small computers e-mail devices
• audio players audio players
• video players etc.
• an antenna module with a detector and an associated canceller is disclosed.
• the detector may also detect interference and spurs.
• an antenna module can include: an antenna configured to receive an electromagnetic signal in a signal path; an amplifier configured to amplify the received electromagnetic signal, and to provide the amplified signal at a first node; a filter configured to receive the amplified signal from the first node, and to provide a filtered signal output therefrom; and a noise canceller and a detector integrated in the signal path at the first node.
• a method of canceling noise using integrated components in an antenna module can include: receiving an electromagnetic signal for a signal path; amplifying and filtering the received signal to provide an amplified signal; detecting noise in a separate signal path; canceling the detected noise from the signal path; and filtering the signal path.
• the amplifying and the detecting may also include filtering. Further, the detecting may also include interference and/or spurs detection.
• an antenna module can include: an antenna configured to receive an electromagnetic signal in a signal path; and a noise canceller with detector configured to cancel noise from the received electromagnetic signal in the signal path. The detection and cancellation may also address interference and/or spurs in the received signal.
• Figure 1 is a block schematic diagram showing an example canceller antenna arrangement.
• Figure 2 is a block schematic diagram of an example noise canceller structure.
• Figure 3 is a flow diagram of an example method of canceling noise using integrated components in an active antenna module.
• Figure 4 is a cross-section diagram of a first example canceller antenna structure.
• Figure 5 is a cross-section diagram of a second example canceller antenna structure.
• Figure 6 is a cross-section diagram of a third example canceller antenna structure.
• Particular embodiments can allow for noise, interference, and/or spurs cancellation in an antenna module.
• a passive antenna module may become activated when an associated amplifier is utilized. Because a noise canceller and detector can be added to an antenna module without substantial redesign of an associated printed-circuit board (PCB) or other circuit connector, relatively short time-to-market (TTM), and relatively high ease of use can be attained due to previous placement of the detector.
• PCB printed-circuit board
• TTM time-to-market
• FIG. 1 shown is a block schematic diagram
• an antenna module used in, e.g., the global positioning system (GPS) can include a patch antenna 102 that receives an electromagnetic signal, and provides a received signal to a first LNA 104-0.
• a filter 106 e.g., a surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter, a bandpass filter, etc.
• SAW surface acoustic wave
• the active GPS antenna may not include the second LNA, but rather the second LNA may be part of an RF integrated circuit (RF-IC) on a main PCB or other circuit connector.
• RF-IC RF integrated circuit
• other types of circuitry for amplification and/or other functions can be used.
• the detector and noise canceller as described herein can also detect and cancel interference, transmitter signals, and/or spurs.
• a direct tap e.g., to ground or VCC
• VCC direct tap
• an active GPS noise canceller antenna structure can include a noise canceller 1 10 and detector or direct tap 108 that are mated to, otherwise integrated with, or otherwise associated with, the antenna module.
• a standalone module can be created with an appropriate detector, such as an ultrathin detector (UTD), added to an active antenna.
• the noise canceller 1 10 with detector 108 may be placed in close proximity or as close as possible to the active antenna, such as in an arrangement on or with a common circuit connector (e.g., a rigid PCB, a flexible PCB, Kapton or other polyimide film, or other suitable connector, etc.) as the active/patch antenna.
• a common circuit connector e.g., a rigid PCB, a flexible PCB, Kapton or other polyimide film, or other suitable connector, etc.
• the noise canceller can be placed under a shield covering the active devices (e.g., LNA, switches, etc.) of the antenna module, with the detector on top of, or on side of, the shield.
• active devices e.g., LNA, switches, etc.
• Such placement can ensure good correlation between associated noise signatures, resulting in good cancellation.
• a bus e.g., a serial peripheral interface (SPI), a universal serial bus (USB), inter-integrated circuit bus (I 2 C), etc.
• SPI serial peripheral interface
• USB universal serial bus
• I 2 C inter-integrated circuit bus
• a fixed setting may be stored in local memory, such as a nonvolatile type of memory (e.g., EEPROM flash memory, etc.) of an associated host system such that setting information can be downloaded into the device.
• a fixed setting can include information (e.g., gain, absolute temperature, temperature coefficient, etc.) about frequencies or other signal characteristics for cancellation.
• such memory e.g., flash memory
• the noise canceller may be connected to a standard GPS, GSM, MTV, DARS, WLAN or WiMax chip/chipset, such as any available from MediaTEK, SiRF, Epson, Broadcom, Qualcom, Marvell, Dibcom, Megachips, etc., such that the antenna and the LNA are relatively close together.
• the antenna module can be used in any suitable receiver application (e.g., DARS, GPS, Satellite television (e.g., Astra, Intelsat, Eutelsat, etc.), etc.).
• noise canceller 110 of an example noise canceller structure.
• noise canceller 110 can be implemented as an IQ modulator that splits an input signal via quadrature splitter 202 into two separate signals, including an In-phase (I) signal and a Quadrature (Q) signal, that are approximately ninety degrees out of phase.
• the signals (I, Q) output from quadrature splitter 202 are said to be in quadrature.
• Quadrature splitter 202 may be implemented via various types of circuits, such as an LC, RC, LR, capacitive only, allpass, or polyphase filter.
• the (I) signal is input to a first controllable amplifier (e.g., variable gain amplifier (VGA) 204-0), and the (Q) signal is input to a second controllable amplifier VGA 204-1 , the outputs of which are added via summation circuit 206, yielding a phase-shifted and amplified signal as output.
• the adjustable amplifiers VGA 204 may be implemented via voltage controlled analog amplifiers, digitally controlled switch type amplifiers, or other suitable controllable amplifiers. Note that one or more of the amplifiers VGA 204 may be non-controllable, and/or a separate variable gain stage may be added before and/or after the IQ modulator, without departing from the scope of the present teachings.
• FIG. 3 shown is flow diagram 300 of an example method of canceling noise using integrated components in an active antenna module.
• the flow begins (302), and an electromagnetic signal can be received for a signal path (304).
• the received signal can be amplified and filtered signal to provide an amplified signal (306).
• Noise can be detected in a separate signal path (308).
• the detected noise can then be canceled from the signal path (310).
• the signal path can also be filtered (312), completing the flow (314).
• FIG. 4 a cross-section diagram of a first example canceller antenna structure 400 is shown.
• GPS patch antenna 402 can be located on one side of PCB 406, GPS patch antenna 402 can be located.
• a noise canceller and detector e.g., square stub detector 404 can be located on an opposite side of PCB 406 on circuitry 410, as shown.
• the noise canceller with detector may be mounted at a different angle (e.g., other than about 90°), and on the same or a different side of PCB 406 as the GPS patch antenna 402.
• the detector can also be placed on a shield covering the active antenna. Further, the detector itself may be partly shielded to modify its reception pattern for particular applications.
• the best correlation between the interfered signal at the patch antenna and the noise sampling detector can be achieved when they are located very close together.
• the patch antenna and the noise sampling detector with canceller may be positioned in very close proximity.
• Such a structure can be used to replace an existing antenna module that may not include canceling capability.
• the detector with noise canceller may be placed on the bottom of the PCB board, such that canceling capability is included in the antenna structure.
• a normal operating antenna e.g., GPS
• a level of integration including an active antenna portion and associated noise cancellation circuitry is achieved in a single module.
• FIGs 5 and 6 other example cross-section diagrams of example canceller antenna structures are shown.
• a flexible connector 502 can be used, with GPS patch antenna 402 on one side, and detector 404/circuitry 410 on another side, as shown.
• flexible connector 502 may have a curve to accommodate connections between patch antenna 402 and detector 404/circuitry 410, and to reduce the height of the module.
• flexible connector 502 can be relatively flat in arrangement 600 with GPS patch antenna 402 and detector 404/circuitry 410.
• shield 602 can be employed to modify the reception pattern of detector 404.
• flexible connector 502 allows for a folding under of circuitry 410, detector 404, and shield 602 to accommodate a different form factor.
• GPS patch antenna 402 height can be in a range of from about 3 mm to about 5 mm
• the PCB 406 thickness can be about 0.8 mm
• other devices e.g., chipset
• a square stub detector 404 may range from about 1 mm to about 3.2 mm in height
• PCB 406 can have dimensions of about 13 mm by about 17 mm.
• Flexible connector 502 can be about 50 ⁇ m in height, while other rigid connectors can range from about 0.1 mm to about 0.8 mm.
• cable 408 can connect to PCB 406, and may also have any suitable dimensions.
• the noise canceller with detector can be secured to the PCB, other circuit connector, or shield by using any suitable adhesive (e.g., sticky tape, double stick tape, gluing, etc.).
• the antenna can also be repositioned and a tap-in or other placement of the detector and noise canceller can be accommodated.
• the folding as shown in the example of Figure 6 can result in the detector and noise canceller being underneath the antenna (e.g., a fold of about 180°), perpendicular to the antenna (e.g., a fold of about 90°), or in any suitable position.
• GPS antenna module can include a detector, and a noise canceller coupled to the detector and inserted in the signal path.
• an active antenna with integrated noise canceller and noise sampling detector can be provided.
• Embodiments of the invention can also operate among any one or more processes or entities including users, devices, functional systems, and/or combinations of hardware and software.
• Any suitable programming language can be used to implement the functionality of the present invention including C, C++, Java, assembly language, etc. Different programming techniques can be employed such as procedural or object oriented.
• the routines can execute on a single processing device or multiple processors. Although the steps, operations or computations may be presented in a specific order, this order may be changed in different embodiments unless otherwise specified. In some embodiments, multiple steps shown as sequential in this specification can be performed at the same time.
• the sequence of operations described herein can be interrupted, suspended, or otherwise controlled by another process, such as an operating system, kernel, etc.
• the routines can operate in an operating system environment or as stand-alone routines occupying all, or a substantial part, of the system processing. The functions may be performed in hardware, software or a combination of both.
• a "computer-readable medium” for purposes of embodiments of the present invention may be any medium that can contain and store the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, system or device.
• the computer-readable medium can be, by way of example only but not by limitation, an electronic, magnetic, optical, or a semiconductor system, apparatus, system, device, or computer memory.
• a "processor” or “process” includes any hardware and/or software system, mechanism or component that processes data, signals or other information.
• a processor can include a system with a general-purpose central processing unit, multiple processing units, dedicated circuitry for achieving functionality, or other systems. Processing need not be limited to a geographic location, or have temporal limitations. Functions and parts of functions described herein can be achieved by devices in different places and operating at different times. For example, a processor can perform its functions in "real time,” “offline,” in a “batch mode,” etc. Parallel, distributed or other processing approaches can be used.
• Embodiments of the invention may be implemented by using a programmed general purpose digital computer, by using application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic devices, field programmable gate arrays, optical, chemical, biological, quantum or nanoengineered systems, components and mechanisms may be used.
• the functions of the present invention can be achieved by any means as is known in the art.
• distributed, networked systems, components and/or circuits can be used.
• Communication, or transfer, of data may be wired, wireless, or by any other means.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Noise Elimination (AREA)
• Details Of Aerials (AREA)

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• 2009
  • 2009-08-20 CN CN200980132805.9A patent/CN102124659B/zh active Active
  • 2009-08-20 KR KR1020117006393A patent/KR101411663B1/ko active IP Right Grant
  • 2009-08-20 DE DE112009002020T patent/DE112009002020T5/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2009-08-20 WO PCT/US2009/054500 patent/WO2010022258A2/en active Application Filing
  • 2009-08-20 US US12/544,860 patent/US8422974B2/en active Active
  • 2009-08-21 TW TW098128166A patent/TWI461005B/zh active

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